CONVENTION SESSIONS
2023 Convention Session Descriptions
Leading Through Crisis: Helping Employees with Anxiety & Depression Stay Engaged
Lisa Schaefer
Shine with Schaefer, LLC
With the coronavirus, many employees are juggling health concerns and increased anxiety combined with their jobs and families, leaving them at risk for stress, loneliness, burnout, isolation, and depression. Leaders must support their staff’s mental health now, more than ever.
In this class will:
- Discuss symptoms of acute stress, anxiety, and depression
- Learn strategies to increase facilitative listening
- Develop dialogue that builds trust, shows support, and keeps staff engaged
Staying Strong and Aging Well in the Fire Service
Roy Smalley
Mayville FD
Is firefighting a job for the young? The average age of firefighters is steadily climbing as men and women who love the fire service stay in and stay active longer. While aging up doesn't have to mean aging out, it does require adjusting our maintenance schedule. You can't run an old truck the same as a new one! The strength and wellness routines we followed as a rookie don't work the same when we're more seasoned. In this session, we'll look at what happens to our musculoskeletal, endocrine, and cardiovascular systems as our bodies age, and talk about strategies for keeping yourself foreground-ready long into your career.
Vicarious Trauma in First responder Families
Matt Roessler, MSW
Director of Human Services - Pepin County Human Services
Chief Deputy - Pepin County Sheriff’s Office
What is Vicarious/Secondary Trauma and why is it important to know how traumatic experiences impact more than just those personally involved in emergency services? This session will help identify and minimize the impacts of trauma on those around us.
Team Before Self
Bryan Keup
Lieutenant – City of Waukesha
A presentation that takes the ethos, culture, and rebirth of a small specialized team within a fire department and applies it to the overwhelming problems present in the fire service today such as culture, recruitment, retention, and morale. I will provide examples and suggestions to repair some of these problems and explain how we brought back together a broken team. It is all possible with passion, persistence, teamwork, leadership, and ownership.
Fire Investigation
Tiffany Ince - Special Agent
Josh Pudlowski - Special Agent
WI Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation, State Fire Marshal's Office
Considerations when fighting a fire and planning for a fire scene examination. Discussion and case examples of best practices from the time of the dispatch until the fire are suppressed and how to prepare for the transition into the fire scene examination.
Leading on the Fireground
Evan Larson
South Metro Fire Department
Leading the fireground doesn't just happen at the incident command level. Leading from the Division role, Tactical and Task roles are equally important. Being able to break down the incident using the proper span of control, the Incident Command has the ability to make faster and safer decisions. Too often when a larger incident takes place units radio back to Command looking for direction. Having Divisions or Groups set up streamlines the flow of the incident by tracking resources. This class will demonstrate to the students how using NIMS, MABAS, and Nationally used terms and definitions can help grow a MABAS Division or a County into a uniformed Command system.
Deep Dive in IamReponding
Instructor TBD
An in-depth look at IamResponding, the features we have to offer, and their functionalities to provide a better understanding of the software and how to get the most use out of the system.
Stevens Point Highrise Fire
Chief JB Moody - Stevens Point Fire Department
Stevens Point Fire Department was paged to 1300 Briggs Ct. in the City of Stevens Point on October 6, 2021, for a fire alarm sounding on the third floor and a medical alarm coming from room #312. When they arrived at the 7-story high-rise with people still in the building, they found thick black smoke blowing out of a third story window. Stevens Point Fire Department, MABAS Division 110, and neighboring divisions were put to the test to complete many different operations during the first operational period. Participants of this course will learn tips and tricks for navigating large structure fires and cooperation strategies for working with inter-departmental agencies both full-time and volunteer.
Maximize Your Fire Attack Package(s): Get Battle Ready Before the Fire
Eric Johnson
Townsend and Riverview Fire Departments
Owner - First Due Fire Training, LLC
Do you have an accurate pump chart for your engine? Is your engine set up for multiple fire attack options? Do you have a complete understanding of friction loss for your hose and your engine? What about nozzle reaction, nozzle whip, fire stream characteristics?
This class digs deeper at the efficiency of your hose loads, pump operations, understanding water delivery, nozzle selection, and proper attack line deployment and handling than any firefighter or pump operator certification class.
After attending this class, you will have a different outlook on engine company operations and efficiency. From the pump panel to the water flowing out the nozzle, being Battle Ready before the fire will increase your odds for a successful outcome at your next fire.
Combined Locks Warehouse Fire
Panel Moderators: Chief Brian Harbison – Fox Crossing Fire Department
EM Specialist Robert Olson – Outagamie County Emergency Management
Our panel will present in chronological order to the best of our ability for the incident, with a focus on the firefighter’s perspective. Our goals are to highlight MABAS utilization, Communications 911 and DVRS (on-scene), Firefighter rehab & donation management, and the unexpected (water system failure, resource needs, etc.).
